House Republicans released a budget plan Wednesday that sets the stage for advancing many of President Donald Trump's top domestic priorities, providing for up to $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and a $4 trillion increase in the debt limit so that the U.S. can continue financing its bills.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth says a return to Ukraine's pre-2014 borders is unrealistic and the Trump administration does not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war triggered by Russia's invasion.
Probationary staff at the Small Business Administration received a series of emails firing them, admitting a mistake, then terminating them once again.
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Trump says he has spoken to Putin and agreed to negotiate Ukraine ceasefire
www.theguardian.com
... Donald Trump has said that he and Vladimir Putin have spoken directly and agreed to begin negotiations to broker a ceasefire to the war in Ukraine.
In a social media post, Trump said that held a "lengthy and highly productive phone call" with Putin and that they agreed to "have our respective teams start negotiations immediately".
He also said that he and Putin had agreed to visit each other's nations.
"As we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the War with Russia/Ukraine," Trump wrote on TruthSocial. "President Putin even used my very strong Campaign motto of, COMMON SENSE.' We both believe very strongly in it. We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other's Nations."
The US negotiating team would include the secretary of state, Marco Rubio; the director of the CIA, John Ratcliffe; the national security adviser, Michael Waltz, and the ambassador and special envoy Steve Witkoff. ...
- and -
US no longer primarily focused' on Europe's security, says Pete Hegseth
www.theguardian.com
Moving back on topic ...
So now Pres Trump's deportation efforts have returned to the "detention camps" of his campaign?
And going back to his campaign... he said he would deport 20 million illegal immigrants.
How is he doing on that?
He needs to deport over 10,000 immigrants per month to attain that goal.
He is already behind.
Trump is 'angry' that deportation numbers are not higher
www.nbcnews.com
... Agents at Immigration and Customs Enforcement are under increasing pressure to boost the number of arrests and deportations of undocumented immigrants, as President Donald Trump has expressed anger that the amount of people deported in the first weeks of his administration is not higher, according to three sources familiar with the discussions at ICE and the White House.
A source familiar with Trump's thinking said the president is getting "angry" that more people are not being deported and that the message is being passed along to "border czar" Tom Homan, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.
"It's driving him nuts they're not deporting more people," said the person familiar with Trump's thinking. ...
@#6 ... Did anyone ever think NATO membership was on the table for any "deal" with Russia? ...
Why was it taken off the table so early by surrender President Trump?
My view is that being a member of NATO is the main thing needed to assure Pres Putin does not invade once again to finish the job of annexing all of Ukraine. And that "finishing the job by Pres Putin" seems to be what Pres Trump is working towards.